public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
in
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
(
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
). L.G. Pinkston High School enrolls students in grades 7-12 and is a part of the
Dallas Independent School District
The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas (USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in the U ...
(DISD).
The school is named in honor of Dr. Lee Gresham Pinkston, an African American doctor who opened what was then Dallas's sole clinic for African-Americans, Pinkston Clinic Hospital, in 1927. He died in 1961. The school serves the
West Dallas
West Dallas is an area consisting of many communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas, United States. West Dallas is the area bounded by Interstate 30 on the south, the Trinity River on the east and north, and the Trinity River's West Fork on ...
neighborhoods.
In 2015, the school was rated " Met Standard" by the
Texas Education Agency
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.
.
History
L.G. Pinkston High School opened in September 1964 as a school for black children. The building cost, with a capacity of 2,000, was $3,067,215. Circa 1965 it had about 900 students.Hacker, Holly K. Would a new Pinkston High really cost $130 million? Hard to say " . ''
The Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
''. October 29, 2015. Retrieved on November 21, 2015. The attached contemporary article School Begins 'Great Effort' in Education describes it as a "Negro High School" (a school legally earmarked for black children) and gives the namesake information, the month of opening, the specific building costs, the 1965 enrollment, and the building capacity, while the main article gives the opening year.
Dwain Simmons became principal in 2014.
As of 2015 the school had about 1,000 students. DISD had plans to rebuild the high school. DISD board member Lew Blackburn stated that he believed that the district's price figure of $130 million is too high. A plan was proposed to have the George Washington Carver Creative Arts Learning Center building closed so a new Pinkston High School could be built on its site, tentatively opening in 2020.
The school began serving middle school levels in 2018, absorbing students from the closed Edison Middle Learning Center, which had perennial low scores in Texas state tests. This meant Pinkston became DISD's first combined grade 7-12 school. A single wing of the complex was dedicated for the middle school students, with the first floor for 7th graders, the second for eighth graders, and the third for elective classes serving both grades.
Academic performance
Pinkston had been ranked "Improvement Required" by the
Texas Education Agency
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.
for a three year period from circa 2012 to 2014. Circa 2013 the passing rates of English examinations and mathematics examinations were below 50%. In 2009, the state classified 10% of Pinkston's graduates as "college ready," or ready to undergo university studies. The State of Texas defined "college readiness" by scores on the ACT and
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
and in the 11th grade
Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) was the fourth Texas state standardized test previously used in grade 3-8 and grade 9-11 to assess students' attainment of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies skills required ...
(TAKS) tests. Several DISD schools with demographics similar to that of Pinkston, such as
Bryan Adams High School
Bryan Adams High School is a public high school located in the Casa View neighborhood of East Dallas, Texas, United States and is a part of the Dallas Independent School District. The school serves the area of Dallas east of White Rock Lake, sout ...
Madison High School Madison High School may refer to:
* Madison County High School (Alabama), Gurley, Alabama
* Madison High School (Idaho), Rexburg, Idaho
* Madison Consolidated High School, Madison, Indiana
* Madison High School (Kansas), Madison, Kansas
* Kentucky ...
had higher rates of college readiness than Pinkston. Holly K. Hacker of ''
The Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
The Dallas Morning News
''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
''. September 3, 2011. Retrieved on February 10, 2012. Liliana Valdez, the school district's director of college and career readiness, said that since the 2009 rankings, the district enacted measures at Pinkston to improve the statistics, including the creation of magnet programs for architecture, automotive technology, criminal justice, and law.
After 2014 and by 2018 the rating improved to "Met Standard".
Demographics
Students live in older single-family houses, private apartments, and Dallas Housing Authority public housing. The following DHA properties are zoned to Pinkston for all levels (grades 7-12): the Hamptons at Lakewest, Kingbridge Crossing, Lakeview Townhomes, and Villa Creek Apartments.
In the 2016-2017 school year, about 75% of the students were Hispanic/Latino and about 25% were black. 92% of the students were classified as economically disadvantaged. The
2010 U.S. Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
stated that the median income of the neighborhood around Pinkston was $11,000, and Bill Zeeble of '' KERA'' stated that this was "one of the poorest neighborhoods in Dallas." The economically disadvantaged percentage was an increase from that of the 2006-2007 school year, when 76% of the students were classified as economically disadvantaged.
Athletics
In 1987 John Kincaide, the athletic director of DISD, said that the district is prepared to allow Pinkston to be reclassified by the
University Interscholastic League
The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organi ...
(UIL) from athletic class 5A to athletic class 4A; the UIL had the possibility of demoting the school to athletic class 4A as part of its biannual reclassification. For 2014-2016 UIL classification Pinkston will be 4A instead of 3A.
The L.G. Pinkston Vikings compete in the following sports:
*
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
*
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
*
Golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
*
Soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
*
Softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
*
Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
*
Track and Field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
*
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
*
Wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
Notable alumni
* Tony Mitchell – former college basketball player for
North Texas
North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wor ...
who was selected 37th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft by the
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...
*
Regina Taylor
Regina Annette Taylor ''Film Reference''. (born August 22, 1960) is an American
– nationally known
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
Black History Month: Local legends in music, theater, dance, and more , ''Guide Live'', ''The Dallas Morning News'', February 3, 2006
* Donnie Williams – American football player